Subscribe

July 20, 2012

Where Was God?

In light of the horrific event in Colorado last night, we thought we’d point you to a transcribed radio commentary by Greg from back in 1999, given in response to the Columbine shootings:

I will tell you, though, on a personal note, I was in the gym stretching to get ready for a run close to my office on Tuesday afternoon when I first got wind of the problems. I laid on the floor stretching my hamstring watching the TV monitor and crying to myself, frankly, choked up watching the drama unfold in Colorado. There is really no one in this country who could have watched the events of those terrifying hours and not have their heart and their prayers go out to the residents of that town, the people in that high school, the parents represented by the children in the school, indeed the whole state of Colorado who mourned this tragedy in their midst.

I just want you to know my prayers were there for you. And when I say my prayers, for those of you who are listening from Colorado, I'm not talking about just talking about emotional sentiments that I cared. No, I was beseeching a powerful God who is capable of answering prayers, who is fully aware of everything that was happening to respond to prayers and to do something in the midst of this tragedy. I believe those prayers were heard....

I am going to drop back just a little bit and try to answer this question that was asked: Where is God? I don't think that is a simplistic question. I don't think the answers are simplistic either, but I do think the answer matters.

One answer that came from the Reverend Gary Hall of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena is an answer that is not going to work. He was quoted in the L.A. Times as having said, "I think God is broken-hearted. I don't think God was in control of these events. I think God will be found in the healing." This is a view of God that is very similar to a rabbi who wrote a very important book about the problem of evil and the existence of God. Basically, his answer is that the problem of evil is bigger than God and that God is not capable to stop evil. He weeps with us at a world out of control.

That can't be the Christian's answer because the Bible that Christians follow teach something different about God. Frankly, I don't know that a God like that, a God who is equally victimized with us as He watches history and the evil in history unfold, is a God worthy of praising, praying to, and trusting oneself to. This is a God who basically has our weaknesses, only on a grander scale. It seems to me that the God who the Bible is appealing us to trust in is Someone who is capable at least of dealing with these kinds of issues.

Of course, this raises a dilemma, doesn't it? How does anyone who believes in God make sense of this kind of thing?

Comments

There is an important non-sequitur in Greg's post. An event's being out of God's control does NOT imply that God lacks the ability to control it. There might be excellent reasons for a supremely benevolent and supremely powerful being to permit a time and a place over which he does not exercise control. That movie theater last night may well have been such a time and such a place. God willfully abdicated control over a certain range of actions to the gunman and is heartbroken over the way that man decided to utilize the control he had been given by God. God was not in control. How could a Christian give any other sort of response to what happened last night?

These sorts of posts amidst these kinds of tragedies are in very bad taste. How much more insensitive can a person be than to announce, while we mourn the murder of a dozen of our compatriots, "In case any of you are wondering where God was, I know the answer and am even willing to let you in on it"? There are too few horrors that pass without some religious polemicist interrupting the dejected silence with some uninvited verdict about what God has to do with it all. Can the appetite for being the answer man on uncertain religious questions not be restrained even long enough for the funerals to commence?

Malebranche, nothing on this blog is coming to you uninvited. You're here because you choose to be here. People who come here wanting to hear a response from Greg, looking for answers, will have it waiting. People who don't want to hear can come back if and when they do.

In the meantime, what is uninvited is rudeness. If you don't want to hear from Greg, don't read it. But don't assume that nobody is looking for answers just because you aren't. You're not the only person who reads this blog.

And it ought to be noted that, based on past comments of yours, it doesn't matter to you when we discuss the problem of evil. You think every time is a poor time to have thoughts about it. So please have a little respect for people who want to deal with this by thinking through it.

Amy, I have to agree with Malenbranche on this one. It hasn’t been 24 hours since the occurrence of this awful event, and STR is already attempting to capitalize off of this incident as a way to score apologist points. Now is not the time to discuss the problem of evil and how it easy it is for the Christian to respond to it. Doing so minimizes the tragedy of this event and the suffering of those involved. Moreover, such flippancy is not only indecent, it is un-Biblical. Lest we be like Job’s friends—and even they at least waited seven days before they spoke—I think it would behoove us to close our mouths and be silent. Now is the time for prayer and generous giving to the victims and their families, not building up preemptive defenses against those who rightly wonder where God is at in this terrible affair.

I'm going to shut down comments here just because we didn't intend to start a debate on either the topic or whether or not it should have been posted. The intent was merely to offer something to people who are hurting.

Needless to say, some people will approve and be helped and some won't, and there's not much more to say about that. As for the ideas, there will be other times we can debate those. So I'll just let this post stand as it is.

I pray everyone will take the post as it was intended and either ignore or read as you see fit. I also hope you'll take a moment to pray for the victims and their families.